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Dark Moonlight Gourami?

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Hello.

About 10 months ago I purchased an unknown(I say unknown because I don't really remember the name, sorry!)gourami for $15 at a LFS and put it in my tropical pond, where it lives with a large variety of fish. The gourami was mostly black, and it had a slight greenish-blue shine to it. It for sure wasn't a variation of the blue/gold gourami, because I can easily tell the diffirence due to having quite a few diffirent colored gourami already in the pond(Yes, they do get along very well. The pond is around 5 by 7 feet and I have put plenty of hiding areas just in case, but there has never been any need. They get along better than the 2 pearl gourami in my 55 gallon. They even like to hang out with a huge angel fish). Anyways, I recently purchased a moonlight gourami from the same place for $10, mainly because I was hoping its white color would stick out and give a nice touch to the gourami variation. Turns out, when I put it in, it looked just like the unknown gourami for 8 months ago! Well, from top view. I was thinking it would be white from above, but it looks grayish-black and shiny from the top, just like the other one. Then it hit me. The one I purchased long ago must have been a color variation of the moonlight gourami itself. This is odd to me because I thought this was only done with the blue and gold kind. I mean, there's a black, blue, gold, black-gold, light blue, dark blue, and a few other variations of these, but I never imagined that this was even out there. When I bought it back then, there were only 2 so I guess it is uncommon. I searched around the web for this, and I so far have found nothing.

I would like someone's input on if they have ever seen one of these, and what their idea of this is. They both eat the same way compared to each other gourami, and are pretty much the same other than if you look at them at diffirent angles. I could temporarily take them out and get a good picture if necessary.

Edit: The pond has a built-in deck around it, and there is really no way to possible see fish from side or bottom view unless you take them out. Just wanna clear this up. Also I've had this pond for about a year and a half.

I am not aware of any colour variants of this species, which is Trichopodus microlepsis. Aquarium fish will almost certainly be commercially raised usually in the far East. The wild fish is darker, there is a photo in this paper [can't seem to copy the photo, so you'll have to look it up]:http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2...nis083-093.pdf

If you do search around, the scientific name of these fish (several of the more common gourami) can be confusing due to errors and corrections since the description by Gunther in 1876. Trichopodus microlepsis is the accepted valid name. [I explain all this here if anyone is interested: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/a...olepis-177610/ ]

Byron.

Byron Hosking, BMus, MA
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Something we all need to remember: The fish you've acquired was quite happy not being owned by you, minding its own business. If you’re going to take it under your wing then you’re responsible for it. Every aspect of its life is under your control, from water quality and temperature to swimming space. [Nathan Hill in PFK]